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New Senior Bowl Hall of Famer in Derrick Henry's corner

Updated April 3, 2017 at 6:02 AM;Posted April 3, 2017 at 6:00 AM

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Blaine Bishop (center) talks with Senior Bowl Executive Director Phil Savage (right) and Voice of the Crimson Tide Eli Gold before the induction dinner for the Class of 2017 of the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame presented by Mobile Gas on Thursday, March 30, 2017, at the Battle House Hotel in Mobile, Ala.
(Mark Inabinett/minabinett@al.com)

Alabama fans want to see running back Derrick Henry carry the ball more for the Tennessee Titans. So does new Senior Bowl Hall of Fame member Blaine Bishop.

The former Titans' Pro Bowler works in radio in Nashville now, including pre- and post-game shows for the NFL team. Bishop said no one can knock DeMarco Murray, who was a Pro Bowler and ran for 1,287 yards for Tennessee in 2016, but Alabama's 2015 Heisman Trophy winner showed he was capable of carrying a bigger share of the load as a pro.

"I'm right there with them," Bishop said of fans clamoring for Henry. "I'm begging for them to give him some more carries. We were going through that on air yesterday actually. I can pinpoint a game where he had like eight carries for 60 yards. He was hot that game against the Bears. Whatever system or scheme or rotation of players they had, he should have been out there more. Now that's hard to monitor when you're a running back coach, and there was a couple of other games I thought he should be in there more at the end when we had the game secure. Why get DeMarco Murray hurt? Let Henry go in there and bruise them and just wear them down.

"I think the sky's the limit. I think probably one more year and it'll be his turn. He's going to wait patiently. Not only Alabama fans, but Tennessee Titans fans want to see a little more Henry. I think he should touch the ball 10 times a game, and that didn't happen. There were some games where he didn't touch the ball at all. And that was really disturbing for me covering the Titans on Titans Radio each and every week. I think they'll try to get him the ball a little bit more, but DeMarco Murray's a special talent, I think they're still going to try to use him for one more year."

Bishop talked about the Titans on Thursday night before he was inducted into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame at the Battle House Hotel in Mobile.

Bishop went from the 1993 Senior Bowl to a 10-year NFL career, spending nine of those seasons with the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise, including four Pro Bowl campaigns. Bishop played for a Houston squad that posted a 12-4 record and two Tennessee teams that went 13-3, including the 1999 squad that reached the Super Bowl.

After winning five games combined in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Tennessee won nine games in 2016.

"It's exciting to see the Titans, being a former Titan when we had some really good days, that they're going in the right direction," Bishop said. "You can see it."

Bishop came to the Senior Bowl from Ball State and credited the practices for the all-star game for showing him that he would be able to play in the NFL.

"To have the opportunity to play in the Senior Bowl and gain some confidence and self-assurance about my ability after watching these guys on TV all the time," Bishop said. "And Alabama winning the national title that year, half the team was Alabama - (George) Teague and (Derrick) Oden. They deserved it all. They had a whole bunch of guys out there that year. Just an honor and a pleasure and helped mold me and build confidence that I could play at the next level. ...

"I was over there with George Teague, and you remember he ran that guy down, and I'm like, 'Man, he must be blazing fast.' But then we get up there and he's just a little bit faster than me. And then guarding the Missile (Syracuse wide receiver Qadry Ismail) -- if I didn't get my hands on him, it was a long chase home for me."

Bishop came to the Senior Bowl as a cornerback, but he was an all-star at safety in the NFL, earning the nickname "The Hitman" for reasons that might not be completely acceptable in the NFL of today.

"I think first of all I would have it put in my contract that every time I got fined, they would pay my fine," Bishop said. "In all honesty, I think I would have changed a little bit of my game because there's no way the way the game is being called today. It probably would have benefited me a little bit. I would have stayed healthier and would feel a lot better today. But I had fun doing it the way I did it, and it was my mark in the league."

Bishop said he was "blessed" to have been a safety in defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan's 46 defense when he entered the NFL, just as he was to land in the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame.

"Who would have thought that a little kid from Ball State would get into his own hall of fame at the university, let alone the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame?" Bishop said. "So I am completely honored and flattered."

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